If Al Gore Doesn't Jump In...Then I Will Vote for Hillary in the California Primary.

"I will vote my heart in the primary." How many times have I heard that said? How many elections did I say it myself? Countless is the answer.

This primary I want to vote both my heart and my head because both my heart and head tell me that an early unified party behind a candidate is instrumental to the real chore at hand: winning the Executive Branch back in 2008. And I do respect those who disagree.

Al Gore, gets the heart and head nod easily because I hold him in high regard personally and because I know he can win in 2008 because he already did in 2000.

Hillary, on the other hand is a far-distant second choice for me because it's where the head leads more than the heart. Still, I can not ignore the stark fact that her campaign throughout 2007 has been one of admirable discipline in organization and in tone. Hillary, as a candidate, is ready to compete against the Republicans and has proven that to me, month after month now avoiding the many sophomoric mistakes her Democratic opponents continue to make even until now.

And Hillary Clinton, if one looks at her life in totality and objectively squares her commitment to liberal causes from an early age with her obvious preference to working within the "system", any fair conclusion would be that she is a progressive, albeit an "establishment" progressive.

Hillary will appoint progressive women and men to the Supreme Court of the United States as her husband did. That's not something to minimize, my fellow lefties. Her appointments will be with us the rest of our lives. That's a very big deal, by the way. That weighs on my "heart" a lot now.

She will work within "the system" to move America toward universal health care in a pragmatic way that has a realistic chance of being achieved in this corporate-protected society we inhabit. Insuring all American children and working class men and women who are stuck between the ebb and flow of job security and too young for Medicare's protection is not a small step toward the not-for-profit system I prefer and have lived with overseas. It's a gigantic step in the right direction and that also puts weight on the balance in my "heart."

She will stand with minorities who have suffered oppression and, like her husband did, expand opportunities for minorities. John Lewis and Charlie Rangel are not naive and when they endorse her, that speaks to my "heart", too. A lot.

Hillary has publicly pledged to permit gays and lesbian Americans to serve openly in our Armed Forces. That will be used against her in 2008. But she's made no bones about it, she intends to do so. That wins my "heart".

Immigrants will not be bashed under a Hillary Administration and she will work to bring the undocumented who are here into the sunlight of legal status and eventually citizenship should they choose. That wins my "heart".

I could go on and on, but the big one, of course, is still her vote for the Iraqi War Resolution. It was a mistake. Any of my hundreds of posts back in those days here will show how upset I was at Hillary, John Kerry, John Edwards and the majority of our "establishment Democrats". But John Kerry and John Edwards and Hillary Clinton did not order the military invasion of Iraq, nor would they ever had done so. Some may choose to believe otherwise because it fits their anger, but its a false belief.

Do I wish that Hillary had stood with Al Gore against the war? Of course. I wish that John Kerry and John Edwards and Bill Richardson and Chris Dodd and Joe Biden had, too. Of course, Dennis Kucinich and Barack Obama opposed the war, but truth be told, it was really only Dennis who had to choose to vote for the IWR or against it. So Dennis, is the only candidate who "proved" his talk with his walk on the war. But then again, Dennis opposed a woman's right to choose for many years, didn't he? Years that Hillary was in the trenches fighting for that cause. I know that Dennis correctly now stands against government intervention into a woman's reproductive choices. It's the totality of Dennis' public service that I admire. But my head knows he can't win though my heart wishes it were not so.

So, for me it all comes back to how I see the totality of Hillary Clinton's life in public service, one of working --- yes within the system --- toward achieving progressive ideals and weighing that against the very ugly reality of another Republican sitting in the Oval Office for yet another four to eight years.

If Gore runs, I'm there.

If not, I'm with Hillary...heart and head. Why, because although she may be part of the establishment, she is on our side.

conclusion. K&R.

is John Edwards. My gut is still with Edwards, though my brain is with Senator Clinton.

What may yet sway me is the fact that Edwards chose to take matching funds, which I fear will cripple him in that period between the primaries and the convention.

As it stands now, I'm fine with voting for either of them, though in the primary I will probably pull the lever for JRE.

If Gore were to run, it wouldn't change my vote at all. I respect Al Gore a lot, but think he's an abysmal political candidate.

Good anyalysis, David.

I will support her, and support her enthusiastically. She's not my first choice. The time to vote for one's first choice is the Primary. That's what I'm going to do.

But we have an excellent field- I will wholeheartedly support ANY of them in the General. Even Biden. Even Hillary.

It's going to be interesting to watch if she gets the nomination, because some folks' heads here are going to 'splode. Hopefully we will be able to unify behind our nominee, whether it's Hillary, or Edwards, or Obama, or Kucinich, or whoever.

I think you will see a lot of new nicks pop up. :)

He has my vote until he isn't on the ballot. He isn't bought and paid for. If worst comes to worst and Hillary is our nominee then and only then will I get behind her.

My husbands job ws a victim of outsourcing and this is personal to me.The fact that she can dismiss it with."It is a reality.Deal with it" is unforgivable.I was not opposed to Hillary before this primary season.The more I learned and the more I researched the less I liked her.I do not understand how one could support Gore and be willing to support Hillary.It would seem to me that would bea contradiction in terms but each to their own.

I want us to run a Presidential candidate who does not start within a very short distance of losing. If as many as 44% of voters have already said they will not support HRC in the general election, we are giving the Rethugs a gift by running her.

They can't as easily steal another election where our candidate polls way the hell outside the margin of error as they can when the race starts in such a competitive position.

There are a number of reasons why HRC polls the way she does. There are other reasons why I don't support her myself.

Gore solves these problems if he will do what this world needs and enter the '08 race. At the risk of heating up the planet even more, his candidacy would add serious "heat" to the '08 race.

Come on, Al, say it's so.

Although I can't understand your non-support of Edwards or Obama. You always struck me as against the many things Hillary stood for.

Both John and Barack will make amazing presidents if they win the nomination and get elected. If either is nominated, I am there 100% with enthusiasm all the way. Count on it.

I did oppose the Clintons vigorously in 1992 as part of Jerry Brown's national campaign and was his delegate to the national convention. But Bill & Hillary whipped the hell out of the left wing of the party. We even had a counter convention with Brown, Tom Hayden, Jesse Jackson, Gore Vidal sponsored by The Nation, but I'm an older guy than most all here at the DU and I have seen only one great nominee in my adult life: George McGovern four years after Robert Kennedy was murdered.

I've come to see the Democratic Party through different eyes and for all of its many problems, it's the best and only thing we have and, the truth is, I think that after GW Bush, the American working class may have finally caught on to the truth about the other party.

Don't shoot me for supporting Hillary. I just can not find it within me anymore to criticize any of our candidates.

She is my Senator, and she is not bad, not great, but not bad. I don't want her for President after reading her positions and comparing them to Edwards. She is repub light, and seems even more to the right than her husband.

We are in trouble, the entire world is in trouble and voting for someone who thinks a slight curve to the left will fix anything, is not the answer. And if she does get in, she will not be getting in on her merits. She has the media genuflecting at her image, she has people voting for because she's a woman, people voting for because of her husband, and people voting for her because they believe only she can win.

If there isn't a noticeable left turn, nothing really is going to change. And I don't know if I can hang on for another election. Hope is running out.

zalinda

Can you point out any policy or or law that Sen Clinton has sponsored or promoted that has resulted in gains for the American people ? I know First Ladies, whether in the Statehouse or the Whitehouse all have their pet projects, but which or what has she offered that has her "footprint" on it ?

I would answer your question with this: Bill's policies of the 1990's were for the most part Hillary's...and Hillary's policies will be, for the most part, Bill's.

That's the tough dilemma the other Democratic candidates face: the elephant in the living room is that Hillary brings along Bill Clinton who is still wildly popular with the American people. It is also her ace in the 2008 election. She walks into the White House with a former president at her side. who did a pretty good job of governing.

But, more to your point, I would point to her work with the Children's Defense Fund as to where you will find her core, jaysunb.

We have a great crop of candidates this time. I watch the debates and wind up rooting for everyone of them. Compare that with the GOP collection of nutcakes, and you have to feel good. :hi:

After the failure of Clinton's managed care plan, Hillary was instrumental in convincing Bill to support SCHIP. Even Kennedy and Kerry (whose bill was the basis for the legislation that created the program) credit Hillary for her efforts as First Lady

As Senator, Hillary fought * to increase funding for the Ryan White Care Act which provides grants to people with AIDS and orgs that assist PWA's

She, along with several other senators, put a hold on *'s nominee to the FDA until he promised to make Plan B available.

She fought for medical care for the first responders on 9/11, breast cancer research and mammograms, monitoring the health of returning Iraqi vets to prevent future misdiagnoses as happened with Gulf War Syndrome, Safe Families and Adoption Act, and numerous other acts that are described on her website.

Whoever gets our nomination has my support.

eom

You've managed to express many of the reasons I'm supporting Hillary. This part says it best for me:

"So, for me it all comes back to how I see the totality of Hillary Clinton's life in public service, one of working --- yes within the system --- toward achieving progressive ideals and weighing that against the very ugly reality of another Republican sitting in the Oval Office for yet another four to eight years."

Whenever someone asks me why I support Hillary, it's hard for me to lay out the reasons succinctly, but I think, at the end of the day, it's the totality of her experience.

"an early unified party behind a candidate is instrumental to the real chore at hand: winning the Executive Branch back in 2008. And I do respect those who disagree."

I utterly despise the bandwagoneering strategy of early "unity" driven by millions in corporate cash. Accepting this as inevitable means that we will never, ever have representatives working for the little guy at higher levels of political office. I also hate fear-based strategies, because you start giving the store away to Repubs when you use the technique that they will always excel in.

You are, whether you realize it or not, backing the total destruction of the kind of grassroots party building that goes on during non-election years, which the DNC has been sponsoring for the last few years as the 50-state strategy. Clinton refuses to use or share information with the nation-wide Votebuilder project, which is a direct statement of intent to abolish popular involvement in the party and bring the Beltway parasites back in. Newly organized and hopeful Dems in red states that hadn't seen a national party organizer for a generation are going to be told to go straight to hell.

I'll support her in the general election if she gets the nomination, but I'm digging in to fight her on this immediately after inauguration day as well.

the GOP slime machine when it gets going.